There are already known various types of ski brakes of different constructions which, generally speaking, include at least one brake element mounted on the ski for displacement between a retracted position in which the brake element does not interfere with the free movement of the ski over the surface of the ski slope or the like, and an extended position in which the brake element projects underneath the ski to engage the snow or in surface on which the ski may travel after becoming detached from the skiboot. The provision of such a ski brake is a very necessary and advantageous expedient, especially since the detached and uncontrolled ski may otherwise gain a substantial speed and wreak havoc among the other skiers and possibly result in injury to skiers who cannot avoid collision with such an uncontrolled ski.
The conventional ski brakes, some of which already use elongated brake elements, work quite satisfactorily and have gained widespread acceptance. However, such ski brakes have an important disadvantage in that they are constructed and mounted on the ski as separate additional accessory, which results in unnecessary material and labor expenditure. Also, since the ski brake is to be moved into its retracted, that is, inoperative position prior to or simultaneously with the attachment of the skiboot to the ski, this represents either an additional operation preparatory to the use of the ski, or an additional point which has to be watched during the attachment of the skiboot to the ski, in addition to the one or more movable components of the safety binding, in order to properly position the skiboot relative to these parts and to properly align and actuate all such parts.
Prior-art ski brakes can be seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,909,024 and 3,992,030, as well as in French Pat. Nos. 2,255,926 and 2,278,363 and in Swiss Pat. No. 349,911, and in German patent publications Nos. 2,501,403 and 2,628,374.